


Mysteries of Eliza

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: The Mysteries of Eliza [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood, Forensics, Gen, Infidelity, Mentions of Violence, Murder, Police Procedural, Science Bitch., description of crime scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 06:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: Full time detective, and full time parent. For Eliza Schuyler there are not enough hours in the day.





	Mysteries of Eliza

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Pay attention to the tags before reading. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also, just so you know this is based on the show "The Mysteries of Laura" starring Debra Messing. Watch it.
> 
> The procedure, especially the science, is as accurate as possible according to the personal experience of tomatopudding, who is a real-life forensic anthropologist.

Sometimes, Eliza longed for the days when she wasn't woken up by the sound of something crashing to the floor. But alas, it was her most reliable alarm. More reliable even than her cell phone, which went off only a few scant moments later. 

Reaching for her phone she looked at the number and groaned, today was clearly not her day. "Why?" Eliza groaned slowly sitting up.

Still in her nightshirt, Eliza made her way towards the commotion in the twins' room, answering her phone as she went. 

"I swear, you were just put here to torment me," she said into the phone. 

"Thanks," was the dry reply from Alex, who pulled double duty as the captain of the police precinct where she worked and as her ex-husband. 

"I only tell the truth," she said.

"Just get down here as fast as you can," Alex sighed.

"Do I even get the courtesy of knowing why you are ruining my morning?" Eliza asked as she traipsed out of her room, dreading finding the source of the early morning commotion.

"A murder," Alex replied brusquely, "Two of them, actually."

"You never give me good news," Eliza accused, "Except when you finally signed the divorce papers."

"Ouch," said Alex, "I mean, fair. But still ouch."

“Well, I have to see what kind of disaster zone Angie and Philip have left in their wake,” Eliza sighed.

"I could take them more often," Alex offered. 

"I'm sure you remember the terms of our agreement," Eliza told him, "for custody."

Alex grumbled, "Yes, I get it, I remember. Just get to the natural history museum as soon as you can. Burr will meet you there."

"Oh joy," Eliza brushed her hair from her face, "just what I wanted, a field trip."

 

"Welcome to the job, Schuyler," Alex said before hanging up. 

"Goodbye to you too," Eliza muttered to nobody.

There weren't any more loud sounds emerging from the twins' room, but that didn't mean anything and Eliza steeled herself for the worst. She loved her kids, truly she did, but sometimes they had too much of their father in them.

"Angie? Pip? Come on get dressed we gotta get you to school, mommy needs to go to work," Eliza called out before approaching their door and breathing in deep.

Eliza turned the handle squeezing her eyes tight, briefly thinking to herself that if she didn't see whatever mess they had made, then it didn't actually exist. Right?

The fact remained that Eliza’s children were five years old, twins, and as destructive as a category five hurricane. So when she opened the door to find their room in disarray with slingshots in hand, she wasn’t all that surprised. However she sure as hell would never be stupid enough to give them slingshots which meant one thing. “Alex...” Eliza grumbled before stepping into the room.

“Slingshots down now!” Eliza commanded assertively, “and put your hands where I can see them!”

Angie and Philip hastily complied while Eliza snatched up the toys, “Now get dressed, we are leaving in an hour.”

At least there were no complaints. Getting the twins ready in the morning was usually a difficult affair, but when Eliza came to the kitchen after having taken a speedy shower and dressed, she found the twins sitting patiently at the table. Which was suspicious, Eliza realized as the finished finger combing through the last tangle in her hair, which she hadn't bothered to wash. 

"It's a little too quiet around here..." Eliza noted.

The twins simply looked at her innocently, their matching dark eyes wide. 

 

Eliza pursed her lips, this was definitely not a good sign, "You two are the worst liars, and I'm going to give you fifteen seconds to tell me what you are up to or no desserts for a month."

 

The twins looked at each other, having a very brief conversation with their eyes, and then back at Eliza. When they didn't say anything, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. 

"Five," she said, drawing the word out, "four...three...two..."

"Angie did it!" Philip blurt. 

"It was Pip's idea!" countered Angie.

 

“And what brilliant idea was this?” Eliza raised her brow.

The twins shared a look again. 

"One and a half," Eliza continued her count warningly. 

In unison, Angie and Philip pointed at the freezer. Eliza inhaled deeply and opened the freezer door. After poking around for a bit she found her badge shoved in between a box of toaster strudel and a frozen pizza. When she turned back around, the chilled badge held gingerly between her thumb and forefinger, both kids were trying to smother their giggles.

“I take back what I said before,” Eliza sighed, “no desserts for two months.”

There were whines of “But mommy...” from the twins.

Eliza simply narrowed her eyes and the two five year old sighed in defeat. 

"Go get your backpacks," she instructed, "it's time to go to school."

Angie and Philip grumbled but did as they were told, all the while Eliza shoved her badge and confiscated slingshots into her purse.

After dropping the twins off at school Eliza made her way to the Natural History Museum. Even at this early hour the area was usually teeming with tourists snapping photos of the sculptures and architecture, but not this morning. There were a large number of squad cars parked out in front with cops limiting the people who walked by.

Eliza pulled her hair into a ponytail at the back of her head as she walked up the grand stairs to the building.

“What took you so long?” Alex approached her as she did so.

Without saying a word Eliza reached into her purse and shoved the slingshots at him, “What kind of an idiot gives a five year old, let alone two of them, slingshots?”

Alex let out a huff and pocketed the plastic toys.

“So did the T-Rex finally take out the triceratops?” Eliza asked as they entered the building, “Or was it the raptors?”

“You think you are so funny,” Alex rolled his eyes.

“Funnier than you,” Eliza smirked.

“Well as I mentioned on the phone we have two murders on our hands,” Alex replied leading her towards the staff offices, “the curator and his wife, found dead this morning by one of the janitors.”

“Murder suicide?” Eliza asked.

“Doesn’t seem like it, but I’ll let Dr. Stevens fill you in on all those details,” Alex replied.

“Oh goody,” Eliza sighed.

It wasn't that Eliza didn't like the medical examiner, they liked each other just fine despite the fact that he and Alex were close friends and almost looked like twins from the correct angle, but he wasn't always the easiest person to be around. Someone who was so cavalier about death had to have some screws loose. 

"This way," Alex led her towards the now rather crowded curator's office, "brace yourself."

"I've been in this business a long time it takes a lot to make me cringe," Eliza shot back.

 

She should have braced herself. The fact that nothing else in the room was in disarray added to the disturbing quality of the scene, a husband and wife wrapped around each other like some macabre game of Twister, their eyes open and unseeing. Various members of the investigative team were already there, making notes and snapping photographs. 

Eliza stiffened as she took it all in, only vaguely registering the sounds of the camera to her left clicking away.

"You were saying?" Alex asked noticing the look on her face then lowering his voice, "You're looking a little pale."

"I'm fine," Eliza said, shaking it off, "What do we already know?"

"Jerry and Meredith Taylor," said Burr, appearing at Eliza's side, "Met when he first started working at the museum, she was already here. They got married three years ago, no kids."

Eliza looked around the room and spotted a CCTV camera in an upper corner of the room. 

"Anything good from that?" she asked. 

"Unfortunately not," sighed Burr, "It was turned off."

"Probably so they could have a quickie," Alex commented.

 

Eliza rolled her eyes, “Just because a wife was in her husband’s office does not mean they were having a quickie.”

"Show a little respect for the dead," Burr intoned dryly. 

Eliza snorted in amusement and Alex looked between the two of them. 

"Was he joking?" he asked, "I honestly can't tell."

“Don’t worry about it,” Eliza replied casually. She and Aaron Burr had been partners even before the twins were born and knew each other’s quirks and habits to a T. 

It had always kind of bothered Alex how close they were--although Eliza wasn't the one who had the affair, so he had no right to talk about such things--and now that she didn't have to worry about soothing bruised egos, Eliza could enjoy the closeness that much more.

“So what exactly are we looking at here Ned?” Eliza went to speak to the medical examiner.

"You'll need to wait until I do the autopsy for a full report," Ned said, "but I have a wild hunch that cause of death has to do with the big holes in their chests."

"A logical hunch," Eliza agreed, "What made those holes? They're much rounder than I would expect."

Ned hummed thoughtfully, "Yes, that is odd. Perhaps a knife twisted as it was being pulled out. I'll know more after I get a closer look."

"Right," Eliza sighed.

 

Eliza glanced around the office, other than two dead bodies everything else seemed untouched.

"Seems like they knew their attacker," she murmured to herself, "No signs of struggle, they saw it coming. But why not struggle?"

While the husband had been stabbed only once, in the back no less, the wife had two wounds. One was in her chest and the other was in her gut. It was a morbid display. 

 

"Seems like whoever it was had a bigger problem with Mrs. Taylor," Eliza noted, "although obviously wanted the hubby dead too."

"Well they certainly solved that problem," Burr said, "I don't think there's much use dusting for prints in here, it would take too long to go through them all and who knows how many people have handled these books and things."

"Right," Eliza agreed, "I say we let the team finish documenting and head to the office with Ned and the bodies. Once the autopsies are done, we'll be smarter."

 

\----------

As soon as Eliza stepped into the precinct she was greeted by a hot cup of coffee made expertly by her investigative aide.

 

"Thank's Laf," Eliza smiled taking the cup in hand, considering that on most days at home she was stuck with whatever instant crap she had lying around to keep her going, this was a huge improvement.

 

Laf gave her a beatific smile and fell in step beside her as they made their way to her desk in the precinct. 

"I've already printed all the necessary forms," he told her, "in duplicate, since we're dealing with two decedents in this case. Also, I picked up a sandwich from Julio for your lunch and there's breakfast waiting for you at your desk, since I know you haven't eaten today."

Eliza let out an appreciative groan as she took a deep drink of the coffee. "You're a lifesaver," she told him, "truly. And all while looking dapper as hell."

Laf beamed and smoothed down the brightly colored vest he was wearing. Today's number was a mixture of colors that Eliza never would have thought to put together and that probably would have seemed tacky on anybody else. Laf was always bragging about the fact that his boyfriend made all of his vests. Eliza would love to have a partner who doubled as her stylist, but alas. 

“I do try,” Laf said proudly.

By the time Eliza finished her coffee and the fresh pastry Laf had provided her, the investigative team had returned and uploaded all of their photos onto the office server. Eliza leaned back into her chair and began to look them over.

Eliza looked everything over in the crime scene photos in the hopes of noticing something she hadn’t seen at the scene. She let out a sigh as she clicked through each photo, one by one.

The close-up photos of the injuries were the worst, in Eliza's opinion. She could handle the sight of blood and gore just fine, but that didn't mean she had to like it. 

"Well that looks disgusting," said a voice behind her happily. 

Eliza turned to see that Theodosia Bartow was looking over her shoulder at the pictures. 

“Indeed it is,” Eliza sighed.

"Ned should be done soon," Burr was saying as he approached, flipping through some papers, "and then we'll--oh. Hi Theo."

Despite the gruesome pictures Eliza couldn't help stifling a chuckle at her partner's flustered expression. Burr had been crushing on Theo for almost as long as Eliza had known him.

“Aaron,” Theo replied nodding her head.

Eliza couldn’t be certain but it seemed that Theo might be sharing those feelings too. Especially since the two of them simply looked at each other for a few long moment before glancing away. Eliza smirked but said nothing in regards to their exchange.

 

Their adorable staring contest was finally broken by the ringing of the phone on Eliza's desk. 

"Schuyler," she said when she answered. 

"It's Ned," the medical examiner replied, "I've just completed by autopsies of the Taylors. Nothing too crazy to be found. I'll send you my report in a minute."

"Thanks, Ned. Report coming in," she told Burr. 

"I'll leave you to it," Theo said, giving them both a small wave before walking away. 

The moment she was out of earshot, Eliza leaned forward and got Burr's attention. 

"So?" she asked, "Did you ask her out yet?"

"Shut up," he hissed back. 

"Aaron," Eliza prodded in a sing-song tone, "Come on, Aaron."

 

“Not gonna happen,” Aaron grumbled, “besides I don’t even know if she likes me.”

Eliza rolled her eyes, “And what do you call what just happened?” she raised her brow.

“Nothing,” Aaron replied, “it was nothing, stop trying to read into it.”

Eliza sighed and reached for her reading glasses so that she could look over Ned’s report. One day she’d get them to both realize that they were being idiots and they should just start dating already.

The report was disappointingly normal, no odd pathologies or other underlying issues. At least it said that the stab wounds were definitely the cause of death. The force used had to have been pretty great, as both of the decedents had fractured ribs and even a few loose shards of bone from said fractures. Ned was currently unsure about the weapon used for the stabbing and was consulting with some of his colleagues for ideas. The normal tissue and blood samples had been sent to the toxicology lab to check for drugs and other such substances, just as a precaution due to the lack of struggle. It was possible that they hadn't fought back because they couldn't fight back. Ned hadn't found any defensive wounds either, but the usual samples had been taken from under both sets of fingernails. This was always the worst part of case, when they had yet to find useful clues.

“This was decidedly not helpful,” Eliza sighed.

"Cases don't often solve themselves, Schuyler," Alex said as he passed by the desk with a mug of coffee in hand. 

Eliza stuck her tongue out at his retreating back and Burr stifled a laugh.

“It’s hard to believe that not so long ago you two were married,” Burr replied between chuckles.

"Believe me," Eliza sighed, "I know. So what are we thinking is the next step here?"

"They were found in the husband's office," Burr said, taking Eliza's lead in changing the subject, "I sent a team to search the wife's office too."

“And any luck on finding out who else was on the premises when they died?” Eliza asked.

"Security personnel," Burr said, "but they've all been accounted for during all hours of the night thanks to the CCTV system. And of course, that was turned off in the husband's office."

“This is just so fun,” Eliza pinched the bridge of her nose, “who kills the curator of a museum Then again,” she removed her glasses, “I suppose that’s what we’re here for.”

 

"I put in a rush for the toxicology," Burr told her, "hopefully that will give us some insight. In the meantime, we should compile a list of the museum employees who have been working this past week."

"That should at least narrow us down from what, a hundred to... Less than a hundred?" Eliza raised her brow.

"It's a start," Burr shrugged his shoulders.

\----------

"I'm sorry, she was what?" Eliza asked.

Ned's mouth was set in a grim line, "We ran some typical blood tests in addition to the toxicology scans. Mrs. Taylor was pregnant when she was killed."

"How long?" Eliza swallowed back the wave of rage at the killer that filled her. 

"Not very long," Ned said, "a couple months, if that. Any physical evidence was hidden by the wound to--"

"Thanks, Ned," Eliza interrupted.

Eliza closed her eyes as she mulled over this new information. While it wasn’t much to go off of perhaps it had something to do with the killer’s motive.

Eliza inhaled deeply, thinking about her own children. Whoever did this certainly did not deserve to be walking around the streets, and now Eliza was even more determined to find them and put them away.

"An affair?" Eliza mused to herself, hating to go to the stereotypical conclusion, "Maybe the child belongs to another man, so the husband killed her and then himself."

"He was stabbed in the back," Burr reminded her, "and the angle doesn't look like it came from over his shoulder."

 

Eliza bit her lower lip, “That does make things a bit difficult.”

Burr sighed, "Why don't we think on it while we wait for them to finish searching the wife's office?"

"You buying drinks?" Eliza asked.

"Do I ever not?" Burr snorted.

 

As they left the precinct, Eliza took a moment to duck into Alex's office, not even bothering to knock. 

"The babysitter is only paid for another forty minutes," she reminded him, "Do remember to pick up the kids up before I get charged an extra hour."

Alex looked as if he was about to say something in response but Eliza continued.

"And remember tonight is math night, and make sure Angie doesn't get Philip to do her homework for her," she continued.

"Liza," Alex managed before Eliza cut him off again. 

"And bedtime is eight o'clock. Not eight thirty, not eight fifteen, eight," she said, "I don't want another night of 'but daddy let's us' insert rule breaking here."

"Eliza-"

"Oh and bathtime, they'll argue with you but it needs to happen," she continued.

At this point, Alex simply resigned himself to listen to the rest of Eliza's list, one that he had heard multiple times before. Although, he supposed that he really had no right to say anything anyway, considering that while he was putting off signing the divorce papers he hadn't spent as much time with the kids as he should have. 

 

"And lastly, no slingshots," Eliza finished, "got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Alex replied, knowing that was the only acceptable answer. 

“Good, have a good time!” Eliza smiled before departing, maybe one day she wouldn’t feel the need to be so hard on her ex, but today was not that day.

Today was, in fact, a day to get drunk on Aaron Burr's dime. Not that he minded, it was a tradition that he had started back when they first became partners. 

Even the days when she hadn’t been drinking due to pregnancy, he’d gallantly offer to buy her apple juice or something of a similar non-alcoholic nature.

“Shall we?” Eliza approached her partner’s desk.

Burr tucking his cell phone into his pocket and collected his jacket before gesturing towards the door. 

"After you," he offered. 

Eliza smiled as they made their way to their favorite haunt, a local bar frequented by a large number of NYPD colleagues.

"So if I'm buying drinks, you got the onion rings?" Burr asked.

 

\----------

With a few final taps on her computer, Eliza pulled up the records of the museum employees who had swiped their key cards around the back areas of the museum on the night that the Taylors died.

It proved to be a rather short list, one of these people most likely was the killer. “Bingo,” Eliza smiled.

Sure it was still a process of elimination, but at least they weren’t looking at the entire staff of the museum anymore, just a select few. Now came the fun part, checking the alibis of everybody on the list. 

"Do you have the employee records?" Eliza asked Burr. 

"Sending them to you now," he replied. 

Eliza pulled up both lists side by side. At least the employee records had a search function, it would have been so much more tedious to have to scroll or flip through paper records by hand. 

Eliza sighed and clicked her way through the records slowly narrowing it down. As she got closer to around the time they Taylors were killed the list started to get even smaller. But still enough that she was going to need help to get this done in a timely fashion.

After all their time as partners Burr could read her quite easily, as was evidenced by the fact that as soon as he heard her sigh he said, "Send me half the list. Between the two of us, we should be able to collect all the alibis. You're welcome."

“You’re the best!” Eliza replied before doing just that.

By the end of the day, they were able to make a good dent in their lists and sent off the information to the computer forensics department to start combing through security footage to confirm alibis. 

“It’s times like these I really wish we could go through several weeks of work in forty-five minutes,” Eliza sighed.

“You still watch crime procedurals?” Burr raises his brow.

“Tired single mother cable package,” Eliza replied, “Sesame Street, Disney Channel, HGTV and Crime Shows.”

"Those shows are bad for your health," Burr said as they began packing up for the day, "or at least for your self esteem.”

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, “Give me a suggestion and I’ll watch it.”

 

When Burr didn't respond, Eliza glanced at him. 

"Unless you watch them too," she said slyly. Burr's blush was answer enough. 

“I knew it,” Eliza smirked.

\----------

By the end of the next day, they had finished calling everyone on the list. The cyber unit was still working on the CCTV footage, so Eliza and Burr were left at loose ends. 

"Did they find anything in Mrs. Taylor's office?" Eliza asked. 

"A probable location for the stabbing," Burr replied as he glanced through the report, "Some pooled blood and a few drops leading towards the office door. The lab just confirmed that it belonged to Mrs. Taylor. No signs of a struggle, though, so it's pretty likely that she knew her attacker."

 

“Which makes since considering that it seems there was only museum staff here that night,” Eliza nodded.

"Exactly," Burr said, "She also allowed this person to get close enough to stab her. The location of the blood pool indicates that she was right up against her desk when it happened."

“What I don’t understand is that it seems the attacker allowed Mrs. Taylor to flee to her husband’s office,” Eliza noted.

 

Burr hummed in agreement, "Certainly odd."

 

"And then they attacked the husband..." Eliza shook her head.

Unfortunately, nothing more could be done until the cyber unit finished their work. Eliza hated waiting. 

\----------

Eliza had been dreading the monthly family dinner ever since Alex had been transferred into her precint as her captain. It had been bad enough once they'd sepereated and started the process of getting a divorce, but this time she was certain would be worse. Her father was the Chief of Police, which meant he was directly responsible to Alex's transfer, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was a ploy to try and get the two of them back together.

Speaking of Alex, he was late. Eliza glanced at her watch. Very late. He needed to drop off the kids at least ten minutes ago for Eliza to get to her parents house on time. She shit a quick text to her elder sister about the time situation. 

Eliza let out a huff, even when they were together he'd never been the best at watching the time.

Finally, there was a knock at the front door, which really should have been Eliza's first clue because Alex usually used the spare key he was only supposed to use for emergencies. 

"You are so late, Hamilton," Eliza said as she pulled the door open. 

Standing before her, however, was not her ex-husband, although at the moment she wished it was him. Instead, Eliza was faced with Alex's boyfriend John with a twin hanging off of each of his hands. Eliza felt her spine stiffen and she narrowed her eyes. Eliza had always liked John. Before he had stolen her husband away. And it might be true that she was mostly over it by now, Alex had certainly been more at fault, but John hadn't exactly discouraged him either. 

“John,” Eliza’s tone was stiff but not icy.

John cleared his throat, "Eliza. Alex is bringing their things."

"Come inside," Eliza told the twins. 

"We want to show Mr. John our room," Philip told her. 

"And all our toys," added Angie. 

"We have dinner and grandma and grandpa's tonight and you need to get ready to go."

"But mom," Angie whined, "we promised!"

"Another time maybe," Eliza told her without any real conviction.

The twins complained, but they ran inside anyway, arguing over which toy to bring with them even though they already had plenty at to choose from at their grandparents.

 

“Make it fast!” Eliza called out to them as Alex approached their house.

"Tick tock," Eliza said pointedly when Alex stopped on the doorstep. 

"Yeah, sorry," he winced, "we went to the park and they got a bit messy. Clean up took longer than expected."

 

Eliza let out a deep sigh, “Well I will thank you for returning them free of grass stains.”

"Of course," Alex replied with a nod, "Have fun at family dinner."

He and John held hands on their way back to the car and Eliza retreated back into the house to wrangle some children. 

“Angie, Pip come on! We’ve got to go!” Eliza went towards their room.

Before she even got to the door, she could hear the argument. The twins usually got along very well, but sometimes when it came to toys things could get messy. 

“Oh no,” Eliza shook her head.

 

"It's mine!" Angie shouted, hugging a stuffed animal tight to her chest. 

"The dragon is mine!" Philip insisted, "This one is yours!"

Philip held a stuffed tiger in his hands out towards his sister. 

"Do you both want to take your stuffed animals?" Eliza asked. 

"Yes!" the twins chorused. 

Eliza was barely able to hold in a sigh. Unfortunately, five years olds didn't quite understand that it didn't really matter which stuffed animal belonged to who since both of them would be coming with them. 

 

Eliza put her hands on her hips trying to come up with a reasonable solution. It was times like these she’d rather be interrogating a murder suspect than try and sort out these sibling squabbles.

 

"Okay," she said, "you have two choices. Either you both share both stuffed animals or you have to choose something else."

The twins glowered at each other for a bit before Angie relented, “We can share.”

"I guess," Philip agreed. 

Finally, Eliza managed to get the twins into the car and to get on the road. Even with traffic they ended up not being as late as Eliza expected, which was a nice surprise.

 

Of course her sisters and brother were already there, as evidenced by the cars in the driveway, but still. As soon as Eliza unbuckled their seatbelts Angie and Philip dashed up the walkway.

 

She didn't even bother trying to tell them not to run, it wouldn't have done any good. At least she had been able to park on the same side of the road as her parents house. The twins still didn't quite understand why running across a street without looking was dangerous. 

Eliza was almost halfway to the door when Angie reached for the doorbell ringing it several times before it was opened by Eliza’s mother.

 

"My goodness," Catherine Schuyler gasped, "who are these kids at my door? I thought that my grandchildren were coming to visit."

"It's us!" Philip chirped. 

"But you're both so grown up," teased Catherine. 

"Grandma," Angie giggled. 

 

Catherine beamed and swept the twins up in a tight hug as Eliza came up behind them.

 

"Hi mom," Eliza said, "sorry we're late."

"No," Catherine dismissed with a wave of her hand, "no big deal."

The two of them hugged before going into her parents home to see everyone else.

Her father was holding court, as it were, in the living room sitting in his favorite armchair with the Schuyler siblings on the surrounding couches. 

 

“Hey Dad,” Eliza spoke up trying to disguise the tension in her voice, as much as she wanted to ask him why the hell he transferred her ex to her precinct, she’d need to wait.

 

"Eliza," Philip Schuyler greeted, "come and sit. JC and your mother are still finishing up dinner so PJ was telling us about his classes this semester."

“Oh yeah?” Eliza raised her brow, “pick a major yet?”

“Nope!” PJ grinned gleefully, “I’m happily undeclared.

 

At 19, PJ was the youngest of the Schuyler siblings and they were trying to not push him towards law enforcement like the rest of the family. Philip, the patriarch, was the Chief of Police for New York City, the eldest Schuyler sibling was Angelica who served as a DA, Eliza was a detective, and their younger sister Peggy had recently began her career as a rookie beat cop. Even Catherine had once been involved in a roundabout sort of way as a newspaper reporter who covered police reports. 

“It’s inevitable,” Peggy called out in a sing song voice.

"Peggy," Angelica scolded gently, "we're trying to steer him away from the same dangerous business that you're all in."

Peggy scoffed, "Are we still pretending that?"

“Well PJ is it working?” Eliza asked.

"Eh," PJ replied, making a so-so motion with his hand. 

Eliza let out a laugh and went to ruffle her younger brother’s hair.

PJ grumbled and batted her hand away, causing his sisters to laugh. 

 

“Not funny,” he grumbled, his face turning red.

Then JC called that dinner was ready and they all made their way to table. Angelica's eight year old daughter Mattie did a great job with keeping the twins distracted, so Eliza was able to actually enjoy her meal.

“Jay this is so good,” Eliza sighed taking a bite.

 

"I try," JC chuckled lightly.

"A husband who is a banker and can cook?" Peggy giggled, "Annie how did you ever get so lucky-"

"I would like to think there is more to me then that," JC laughed.

"Nope, that's all you're good for," Angelica teased as she leaned over to kiss his cheek. 

JC let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, "This is what I left England for."

"I think you're good for more than that, daddy," Mattie piped up. 

"Thanks pumpkin," JC smiled and kissed his daughter’s cheek.

After dinner Eliza decided it was time she sat down with her father to talk about Alex's promotion. 

"Dad you mind if we talk for a second?" Eliza asked while they were in the kitchen.

"If you help me with this," her father said, "then of course."

As usual, her dad was in charge of making all the after dinner hot drinks and remembering everybody's orders. Eliza knew her siblings, of course, so she set about preparing those mugs while the water boiled. 

"What is it, sweetheart?" he asked. 

Eliza let out a sigh, "It's about Alex," she knew the best way to handle it was jumping right into it.

 

"Ah," her father sighed, "I was wondering when you'd bring this up."

Eliza had been half expecting her father to deny his involvement, but it seemed he wasn't going to. It derailed her, but only for a moment. 

"Why would you assign him to my precinct?" she asked, "I mean, I can admit that he deserves to be a captain, by why my captain? Work was my safe space! A place where I didn't have to be reminded of him everywhere I look!"

"Eliza," Philip soothed, "I didn't mean to hurt you with it. I didn't mean to do it at all! You had just been held at gunpoint by The King, a man that I had trusted in his position. I was just so happy you were safe, I trusted my assistants and the office to vet a new captain."

Now that really stopped Eliza in her tracks. Honestly, she hadn't really thought about that day since it happened. George "The King" Hanover had been her captain for all of her previous years on the force, both before and after she'd made detective.

Hell he'd practically trained her, and then one day everything changed, and for a moment Eliza's life was on the line.

"So you're saying that Alex being where he is, is a clerical error?" Eliza raised her brow.

"Not an error, per se," Philip replied, "an oversight. His promotion was going to happen regardless."

Eliza let out a sigh, "Well I guess that's better than thinking you were trying to get us back together in a sneaky way."

"Oh, sweetheart," Philip said, cupping Eliza's face between his hands, "I would never do that. I respect the decision you made to divorce him and your reasons behind it."

Eliza smiled when he pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

"This has just made things more than a little... Awkward..." Eliza admitted.

 

"I wish there was something I could do," Philip told her apologetically, "but there are rules about how long a person needs to be in a particular position or precinct before being transferred unless there's a legitimate reason and Alex..."

"Is a good captain," Eliza completed with a sigh, "I understand."

"How have the twins been handling all of this?" Philip asked.

He pulled away to continue making the rest of the drinks and Eliza leaned against the counter with her arms crossed across her chest. 

"I think they're just happy to be spending time with their father," Eliza said, "They don't seem to be bothered by John either. I think they actually like him."

“Really?” Philip asked.

Eliza nodded her head, “Oh yes, they wanted to show him their favorite toys when he dropped them off with Alex.”

"And you?" Philip continued, "You thought about moving on?"

"Well sure," Eliza nodded her head, "just it's not so easy to be a detective and a single mom, and hope to dive back into the dating game...granted Kitty has certainly tried."

Philip chuckled, "She can certainly be persuasive, that Kitty. I'd watch out for her if I were you."

“Oh I know,” Eliza laughed, “I dated her, remember?”

"How could I forget?" Philip said dryly, fixing up the last of the drinks and beginning to put them on some serving trays.

Bringing Kitty home without any warning or discussion had been Eliza's whirlwind way of coming out as bisexual to her family. 

They were together for a couple years in college before breaking up amicably and remained good friends, the twins even referred to her as Aunt Kitty. 

"Well it certainly made for an exciting Thanksgiving." Eliza shrugged at the memory.

"Exciting," Philip said, "is certainly an apt description."

Eliza smirked, "I've always been able to keep people on their toes."

\----------

Eliza's mind had not left their most current case for even a second. It was always frustrating at this point, waiting for a different department to do their part of the investigation and meanwhile trying to figure out a motive without even having a viable suspect. 

"Detective Schuyler."

Eliza was roused from her thoughts by the sound of Ned's voice. He didn't usually make his way to the bullpen, preferring to stay down in the autopsy suite. Beside him was another man. Quite an attractive man, Eliza couldn't help but notice. 

"This is my colleague Dr. Hosack," Ned introduced, "he's a forensic anthropologist doing his postdoc at NYU and he specializes in sharp force trauma."

Dr. Hosack smiled and there was a flirtatious edge to it, "Dr. Stevens asked me to come in and help with a reconstruction of a couple rib cages. Maybe together we'll be able to figure out what weapon was used."

 

“Okay,” Eliza said slowly, trying not to get distracted by the sparkle in Dr. Hosack’s eyes when he turned his attention to her, “I assume Ned briefed you on everything we know so far.”

"Yes ma'am, he did," Dr. Hosack told her with a nod, the corners of his mouth still quirked upwards, "and I did my PhD on rib trauma."

"If there's anyone who can figure out this weapon, it's David," Ned assured her. 

"You're making me blush," Dr. Hosack said dryly, shooting Eliza a wink. 

"Great," Eliza replied with a smile, definitely not doubting that the doc was flirting at least a little bit, "so initial thoughts were some sort of knife, even though the wound had a rather odd shape, we still thinking that's the case?"

"Once we do the reconstruction we'll know more," Ned said, "I just wanted to introduce you to Dr. Hosack first."

"Well then I'll let you two have fun playing life size Operation," Eliza smirked.

Dr. Hosack laughed, "I don't think I've ever heard it referred to in that way before."

"What can I say, I have a way with words," Eliza replied. "It's also what Angie and Philip think you do all day," she added, looking at Ned.

Ned shrugged. "It's as good an explanation as anything. For five year olds, anyway."

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, "Well I'll let you two go, in the meantime maybe some new information will fall out of the sky into my lap!"

\----------

It just so happened that some new information did come to light in the form of a possible suspect. The computer forensics unit had finally been able to match the personnel who had been at the museum on the night of the murder with the security footage. Unfortunately, there were several cameras whose footage had been completely wiped, all of which were in the area around the back offices. One of the cameras had appeared to be erased at first but a closer examination had shown that the files were badly corrupted but still salvageable. It wasn't very clear, in fact it was so blurry that Eliza couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman, but it showed them sailing a key card and walking through a door. 

"Laf do we know who this is?" Eliza asked as she watched to footage yet again.

"I have yet to hear from the museum," Lafayette sighed.

They had sent the museum the number of the camera that the footage belonged to in an effort to find out where the door led. 

 

“I guess it’s just hurry up and wait,” Eliza sighed. 

\----------

While waiting, Eliza decided to take the opportunity to go down to the autopsy suite to see how Ned and Dr. Hosack were getting along. It was mostly professional curiosity, but Eliza had to admit that she had been struck by his casual flirtation with her the day the met. She'd also been thinking about what her father had asked about moving on from Alex once and for all.

As always, the autopsy suite was colder than he rest of the building and Eliza couldn't help but shiver slightly. After slipping some protective covers over her shoes and grabbing a mask, Eliza made her way into the autopsy room. Ned and Hosack were bent over the table, both of them clad in lab coats. 

"Hello boys," Eliza said by way of greeting.

“Detective Schuyler,” Ned nodded.

“So got some good news for me?” Eliza asked hopefully.

"Nothing yet," Ned told her, "these things take time."

"Come and take a look," Dr. Hosack offered. 

For some reason, Eliza had expected to see an entire body on the autopsy table, but what was there was only what she recognized at vertebrae and ribs as well as some flat pieces that she assumed had to be rib fragments. There were certainly more of those than she had expected.

“Okay?” Eliza raised her brow, “And why are these important?”

 

"Once we put the ribs back together," Dr. Hosack began to explain, "then we'll be able to see where the weapon entered Mrs. Taylor here."

“So perhaps we can found out what left such a round marking?” Eliza asked.

“That’s part of the plan,” Dr. Hosack nodded.

Eliza let out a low whistle, "That's a lot of pieces."

Dr. Hosack chuckled, "That it is. Hence why it's taking some time."

“You must be really good at puzzles,” Eliza let out a small laugh.

"I'm pretty good with my hands, yes," Dr. Hosack said, the smirk on his lips showing that the innuendo was completely intentional.

Eliza did her best to suppress the blush slowly creeping across her face.

"Well," Eliza said, clearing her throat, "I guess I'll leave you to it, Dr. Hosack."

"It's David," the forensic anthropologist told her, "please."

“Well David, then call me Eliza,” she smiled.

Ned cleared his throat, breaking their moment. 

"Back to work," David said with a fake sigh, "complete the puzzle, help solve the case, all that stuff."

Eliza chuckled, "I'll leave you to it, then."

\----------

Now it was back to everything they had gleaned from the video footage and the various card swipes.

The museum had finally gotten back to them about the mysterious door. Apparently, it was a secondary door that led to the back offices of certain museum staff members. They'd even used the time stamp from the video and the data about keycard entry to find out whose card was used.

“Oliver Holt,” Eliza read, “well he just hit the top my top ten list of people I want to talk to.”

Burr hummed in agreement as he clicked through Holt's employee file. 

"Shall we bring him in?" Eliza asked leaning back in her chair.

"Sounds like a good plan," replied Burr, "I'd really like to know what he was doing in that hallway at one in the morning."

"We do have confirmation from security that Holt was in the museum after hours that night," noted Eliza, "but he works in the geology department and his office is on the other side of the museum."

“So not really necessary for him to be wandering around the curators office,” Burr pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Nope,” Eliza shook her head, “unless his wandering included some murdering.”

\----------

Oliver Holt didn't look like a killer, but that didn't really say anything. Eliza had seen stranger things during her time on the job than a round-faced man with kind eyes turning out to be a violent murderer.

Another thing was how insistent he was that he’d been nowhere near Dr. Taylor’s office that night.

“Check the tapes!” Oliver insisted, “that wasn’t me, I swear.”

“Mr. Holt,” Eliza sighed, “we have evidence that shows your card was the last one used right before the Taylor’s were murdered.”

“It wasn’t me,” Oliver pushed his hair from his face, “S-someone must have taken my card or something, I was here late last night but only to categorize or new quartz samples.”

Eliza couldn’t help but think how dreadfully boring that must be... If he was telling the truth.

“If that’s true then just how was your card swiped there?” She raised her brow.

"I don't know." Oliver rubbed his temples. 

"Mr. Holt," Burr said smoothly, pulling out a computer printout ad placing it on the table in front of their suspect, "as you can see here, your card was used to open the door to the back offices at 1:04am."

"One..." Oliver murmured, "no, it couldn't be. I left the museum at a quarter to one that day. I swear that I did. Ask Carl from the front desk, I talked to him on my way out."

Eliza tried her best to hide her confusion making a mental not to do just that. Perhaps Oliver was telling the truth.

 

\----------

Despite the recent murder, the museum was still open and running. Nothing had happened in a public area so there was no need to stop business. 

Carl, they soon learned, was in charge of the security booth from closing time until twelve. 

"Yeah, I remember Oliver leaving," he told them with a nod, "Usually I'm out by midnight, but it was Kyle's wife's birthday so I pulled a double, took the overnight shift too. Oliver left not too long after shift turnover."

Eliza quickly wrote that down, and now they were back to no suspects. “Is it possible for someone else to have been here and you not knowing about it?” she asked.

 

"Unlikely," Carl replied, "everyone comes past me, I've been at this job fifteen years, and I do it well."

Eliza made a note to herself to confirm this on the CCTV tapes, particularly in the details of Oliver's departure from the museum. If it was true, then they had more questions than answers. Who had used Oliver's keycard to get in to the back hallway? How did they know the Taylors?

“Thank you,” Eliza replied, “well the NYPD will be keeping in touch as we find out more.”

A look at the tapes indeed showed Oliver leaving the museum as the time that he had told them and driving away in his car. Nobody else approached the museum before Oliver's key card was swiped. 

"They were in the building since before closing," Burr noted. 

“Clearly,” Eliza sighed, “and somehow managed to get Oliver’s card without his knowing.”

 

"Unless he did know," offered Burr, "at this point, we don't know where to start. Maybe Oliver has some idea of who could get close enough to snatch his key."

“Guess we’ll need to sit him down for another chat,” Eliza tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Hopefully this time he'll be a bit more helpful," added Burr dryly. 

"No kidding," Eliza huffed.

 

\----------

"I already told you that I'd left before the murder," Oliver said almost as soon as they had entered the room. 

"We believe you," Burr told him soothingly, "we saw the security footage."

Oliver let out a deep sigh of relief.

"What we don't understand is how your card continued to move around without you there," Eliza continued.

"I don't know," Oliver murmured, "I always have it on me, always."

He reached for his belt as if to grab the keycard and an odd look crossed his face. 

"What is it, Oliver?" Eliza prodded gently.

"It's gone..." Oliver's face paled.

"Gone?" Eliza asked. 

"M-m-my key card," stammered Oliver, "it's gone, I don't know where it...Verity."

"What's verity?" Burr asked. 

"Not what, who," corrected Oliver, "Verity is a colleague, she works in acquisitions. I passed her on my way out of the building that day, she said she left something in the office but it was her day off and she didn't have her key card. I let her borrow mine, I never do that kind of thing but she convinced me that...I can't believe I forgot..."

This mean they had one person to add to their list of suspects, they just needed to find her.

"So Verity still has your card?" Eliza asked.

"I believe so," Oliver nodded.

"Do you have any reason to believe that Verity holds some sort of grudge against the Taylors?" questioned Burr.

"Not Verity," Oliver said, "she's the sweetest person I've ever met."

Eliza pursed her lips, something was not adding up with this story, "Yet according to the the card swipes it seems she was the last person to see the Taylors alive, and made no attempts to return your card to you."

"I'm certain she's just forgotten," Oliver mumbled.

Any other questions they might have had were interrupted by a knock at the door. 

"Yes?" Eliza called. 

The door opened and Lafayette stuck his head in, "Detective Schuyler, doctors Stevens and Hosack are asking for you."

After exchanging a glance with Burr, Eliza rose to her feet and left the interrogation room. She knew that Burr could coax Oliver into giving them some more useful information.

So she followed Laf who was fixing his hair as they walked, "It's already perfect," she noted.

"Can never be too perfect," Laf said primly, giving his curls a final pat before moving on to smoothing down his colorful vest du jour. 

Eliza rolled her eyes fondly and gave him a pat on the should before they parted ways, Laf back to his desk and Eliza down to the autopsy suite. Eliza laughed and entered to speak with the two doctors who were waiting for her.

 

"I assume you have news for me," she said, "hopefully good news."

"It's at least useful news," Ned told her. 

"And it should get even more useful once we do a very simple test," added David, beckoning her over to the table. 

The rib cage was completely rebuilt, glued together and sitting on the table propped up with soft foam. 

"Nice puzzle skills," complemented Eliza, "everything present and accounted for?"

"And then some," David said.

"Meaning what?" Eliza urged. 

"Meaning that we found a piece of bone that does not belong to Mrs. Taylor," replied David. 

He pulled out a small plastic baggie with a flourish. Within it was a shard of bone. 

"Well..." Eliza went to look at the piece, "humans don't exactly have extra bones, do we?"

"Actually, they do sometimes," David said, excitement tinging his voice, "sometimes during bone development, small accessory bones will form. They're actually great to use for identification via x-rays. They're unique, you see, so if we compare antemortem and postmortem scans we can, er, sorry." 

Ned and Eliza were both looking at him in amusement. 

David cleared is throat, his cheeks flushed, "Not relevant. The fact of the matter is that this shard of bone doesn't fit anywhere. The first question, of course, is whether the bone is human. A simple histological test will tell us that. From the formation of the cells, we may even be able to tell what kind of animal is comes from, although not necessarily the exact species."

 

Eliza folded her arms across her chest, "About how long is this going to take?"

"Not long at all," David assured her, "Just thought that you'd like to know our progress." 

 

“Yup, one step closer to hopefully finding this weapon,” Eliza replied.

\----------

There were few things as exciting as getting closer to cracking a case, but one of those things was getting to see her kids after a long day at work.

And if the house was calm and quiet, like she found it today, then all the better. The twins and their babysitter were in the living room, each engrossed with their own activity and the picture of serenity. They had always been a bit of a handful, and things had not improved when she and Alex split however much Eliza tried to keep them out of it. Now they were slightly more settled, but the twins could still be quite rowdy. Then there were moments like these. Philip was the first to notice her, looking up from his coloring book. 

"Mama!" he called. 

Eliza beamed, "Hi sweetie," she waved.

Philip took that as an invitation and half ran across the room to wrap her legs in a hug. Eliza chuckled and lifted him into her arms instead, kissing his cheek. 

It didn't take long for Angie to be aware as well slightly jealous of the attention her brother was receiving. "Mama!" Angie pouted.

"Come here, then," Eliza said fondly. 

Angie grinned and rushed over as well. The twins were getting quite big so holding one in each arm was pretty tiring, but Eliza did it anyway for as long as she was able. 

"Ooof!" Eliza flopped down onto the couch causing the twins to giggle as she snuggled them close, "I missed you two so much," she kissed each of their foreheads."

"We missed you too, mama," Angie assured her. 

"Why do you have to work so much?" Philip frowned.

"You remember what I do, right Pip?" Eliza asked. 

The boy nodded, "You with for the police and catch bad guys."

"That's right," Eliza told him, "and right now I'm working really hard to catch a very bad guy. Do you understand?"

"I guess," sniffled Philip.

Eliza ran her hand through her son’s curls softly, “Well I’m here now.”

“Ms. Schuyler,” The twins babysitter approached her.

"Oh, sorry," Eliza unentangled herself from the twins, who whined before cuddling into each other instead, "How much do I owe you?"

Once the money exchange was complete, Eliza sent the babysitter on his way and found Philip and Angie half asleep. 

"Okay, bedtime," she told them, "let's go get our pajamas on."

With surprisingly little fuss the twins did as they were told. Eliza took a moment to get her own pajamas on which consisted of old sweats and a tee shirt with “NYPD” emblazoned in gold letters across the front.

Their evening routine was simple. The twins liked to come to Eliza's bathroom to brush their teeth together with her and splash water on themselves to imitate Eliza washing her own face. She’d stifle her laughter as they did so and helped them dry their faces off before they clambered into her bed for some kind of a story. Bedtime story was one of the things that Philip and Angie were always able to a agree on. 

"Alright, what story do you want tonight?" Eliza asked as she entered her room sitting at the foot of the bed.

"The Frog Prince," Philip requested, holding out their picture book. 

"With voices," added Angie resolutely. 

Eliza sat in the middle of the bed, propped up against the headboard with pillows, with the twins tucked up on either side so they could see the pictures as she read. 

 

“Alright,” Eliza opened the book and began to read the story just as they had requested.

By the time she reached the end of the story, both kids were nearly asleep, struggling to keep their eyes open. Some cajoling and gentle hands on their shoulders helped the twins into their room and beds. Taking the time to tuck each one in nice and tight and kissing their foreheads. She made sure their night light was lit, casting the room in a golden glow, and shut the door quietly behind her before letting the exhaustion of the day slump her shoulders.

Eliza let out a deep sigh before dragging herself back to her room. She meant to read a couple chapters of the book she was in the middle of but ended up falling asleep before she finished the first page.

\----------

Verity Dixon was the kind of woman who was gorgeous and knew it, she carried herself in a way that prompted admiring looks from everyone around. The big doe eyes certainly helped with that. That was one of the first things Eliza certainly noticed about her when she came into the precinct. But there was something about it which didn't really ring true. Eliza wanted answers, and she was certain she would get them. She began thinking a little more about her strategy as she escorted Verity to the interrogation room.

"I still can't believe this happened," Verity was saying as they stepped into the room, "and in the museum and everything. It makes it worse, you know? It could have been me!"

 

“It seems unlikely Ms. Dixon,” Eliza held back a sigh, “the Taylors were clearly targeted.”

 

"Oh," Verity said, "well it's still awful."

"Yes," Burr agreed, "it is. We wanted to talk to you about that night."

 

Verity let out a huff, “Well I’m not sure what you want to talk to me for.”

 

"You used Oliver Holt's key card to get into the back hallway less than half an hour before the Taylors were murdered," Eliza said bluntly. 

Verity's eyes widened, "What?"

"Don't deny it, he told us that you borrowed his card," Eliza told her. 

Verity let out a sigh, "Oh, Oliver. He was having an affair with Meredith, you know."

It didn't escape Eliza's notice that Verity was dodging the subject.

“I’m afraid I’m not sure how that pertains to my line of question,” Eliza pursed her lips.

 

"I'm just saying," Verity replied with a shrug, "it's what you might call a motive. Oliver and Jerry weren't exactly each other's biggest fans."

Eliza furrowed her brow, this was something new, “You seem to know an awful lot about this affair.”

Verity looked down at where her hands were clasped together on the table. "It's not exactly a secret."

"Then why has nobody else mentioned it?" Burr asked. 

"Because Oliver is a good guy, all things considered," Verity replied before looking up at them with eyes that seemed to sparkle with unshed tears, "I'm sure it was an accident. He didn't mean to hurt her. Him maybe, but not her."

 

It was starting to seem like they’d have to bring in Oliver yet again.

“But this still doesn’t explain your use of the key card,” Burr asked the next question that was on her mind, “One that Mr. Holt says you never returned to him that night.”

"That's what I'm trying to tell you," Verity said, her voice tinged with frustration, "I don't have his key card. I never had it."

“He seems convinced that he loaned it to you and that it is no longer in his possession,” Eliza added.

“Well where all have you checked?” Verity shot back.

"Why don't you leave the detective work to the detectives, Ms. Dixon," Eliza replied, not snapping at her but close to it. 

Verity folded her arms across her chest and glowered at Eliza. This was nothing new, many a suspect and her children had done the same thing.

"Fine, you don't believe me," Verity sniffed, "I don't have the key card. You're welcome to search whatever you want. I have nothing to hide."

 

"We will definitely take you up on that offer," Eliza nodded.

After they finished up with Verity and sent her on her way, Eliza and Burr sat at their desks to discuss. 

"So what are we thinking," Eliza said, "what's our next move?"

“I think we should see exactly what Verity claims she isn’t hiding from us,” Burr leaned back in his chair, “I mean she did give us permission to snoop.”

“That she did,” Eliza let out a small laugh at her partner’s use of the word “snoop”, “and so think there is more to her than what meets the eye.”

“And should we bring Holt back in?” Burr asked.

Eliza hummed thoughtfully, "We could also just pay him a quick visit instead."

Burr chuckled, "You just want to avoid filling in the paperwork for bringing in a suspect."

"You see right through me," Eliza told him with a grin, "Speaking of paperwork, why don't we get some search warrant requests for Verity set up and then go talk to Holt."

“Way ahead of you,” Burr leaned forward and went to get the forms.

\----------

"I'm sorry, she said what?" Oliver sputtered, his eyes wide. 

"No," his wife said forcefully, her hand tight on his shoulder as she stood behind the kitchen hair where he sat, "that is a lie. Ollie would never."

"Never," Oliver agreed. 

Eliza and Burr exchanged a glance. There was something very genuine about Oliver's denial, Eliza remembered the way Alex had been when she'd confronted him about cheating on her. Although her ex-husband had never been great when it came to trying to keep things from her.

"I don't know why she would say something like that," Oliver said in a hushed tone. 

 

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Burr spoke up.

“I mean we weren’t friends but I would never say something like that about Verity,” Oliver ran his hand through his hair.

It was fairly obvious that they weren't going to get anything more useful out of Oliver. His wife had already confirmed him arriving home the day of the murder and Verity's accusation was definitely false. So why would she lie about something like that? What was Verity hiding?

With any luck, they would be able to find out very soon since all the search warrants were issued without protest. 

 

\----------

"The test results are in," David Hosack announced as he approached Eliza and Burr's desks, "and you are not the father."

"Oh?" Eliza said, one eyebrow quirking up in amusement.

"Our extra shard of bone is not human," David clarified, "what we're looking at is some kind of ungulate. Most likely one with antlers, like a moose, elk, or deer."

Eliza’s brow furrowed, “A moose?”

“They do have one at the museum,” Burr replied.

“Last I checked it had both it’s antlers,” Eliza replied.

"And last I checked, stuffed moose don't come to life and stab people with their antlers," Burr added dryly. 

Eliza nodded, “That too.”

"Nothing says the antlers were still attached," offered David with a shrug. 

"Of course," Burr began. 

"Verity worked in acquisition," completed Eliza, "and I have access to her emails so I can check the latest records."

"So if there were any loose antlers she'd have access to them," Burr finished Eliza's thought.

David looked between the two of them as they dove back into the data on their computers. 

"It's scary how in sync you two are," he said. 

"You have no idea," drawled Laf, handing the anthropologist a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," David muttered taking the cup.

Eliza simply smirked, appearing very pleased with herself.

"Bingo," she said, "the latest inventory acquisition included several examples of elk antlers from a species native to North America. So that gives us access to the weapon," she mused, "but what about a motive?"

"I think I've found that," Burr said, turning his computer monitor to face Eliza. 

On the screen were displayed several text conversations between Verity and Meredith Taylor.

"Oooo," Eliza grinned leaning in to read, "time for a bit of light reading."

"I think you'll find it quite...informative," Burr told her. 

As Eliza continued to read the conversations it became more and more obvious that there had been a deep emotional connection between the two woman. And, it became apparent, a very intense romantic and sexual relationship. 

"Woah," Eliza said, "Verity was the one having the affair with Mrs. Taylor."

 

"Sacre bleu..." Laf muttered from where he was standing, "Who knew museums could be so interesting?"

"A regular soap opera," agreed David. 

“Let’s just hope this one doesn’t drag on for fifteen years,” Eliza sighed.

 

"We should check out the newest inventory," Burr said, "see if we can find the antler to which our bone shard belonged."

"Then we bring Verity back in," Eliza concluded, "and see if we can get a confession out of her."

 

\----------

The museum storeroom was a pretty amazing place. There were so many different artifacts in one place. Luckily, it was also very well organized. The latest acquisitions hadn't been allocated to a particular area of the storeroom or an exhibit yet, so they were all in the same place near Verity's desk.

“Now where is that antler,” Eliza mused.

"According to the inventory sheet," Burr said, "there were three skulls with attached antlers as well as two complete antlers without a skull."

“Okay,” Eliza nodded, “Well this shouldn’t be too difficult I suppose.”

Burr hummed in agreement and they began sorting through the items. They found one of the pair completely intact and free of blood. In fact, all of the antlers on the inventory list, with or without a skull, were present and accounted for without any sign of blood. 

"This is not what I was expecting," Eliza grumbled.

"Like she'd put it back here?" Burr asked, “It was probably ditched somewhere nearby."

"But we've already seen every antler on the inventory list, nothing is missing," Eliza said. 

"Didn't Verity write up this list?" Burr asked suddenly, "Do we have an arrival invoice or some kind of list that she didn't get her hands on?"

 

"Good point," Eliza snapped her fingers, "surely there has to be some kind of shipping manifest or the like."

 

"Preferably something with a hard copy," Burr added, "digital documents are way to easily altered."

"Such as our erased CCTV footage," agreed Eliza.

"Exactly," Burr nodded.

"Well I guess we better find someone else in acquisitions to talk to," Eliza sighed.

\----------

It wasn't until they were leaving the museum that Eliza had a thought and she picked up the pace as the walked down the stately staircase.

"Eliza? Burr called out, but it was as if she didn't hear him as she kept walking.

"What are you doing?" Burr picked up the pace to catch up with his partner.

"Trusting my instincts," Eliza replied as she kept moving.

There had indeed been an incongruity between Verity's inventory list and the original delivery list, a single antler end, but a through search hadn't revealed it anywhere. They had been planning on searching Verity's home, but now apparently Eliza had something else in mind.

"You and your instincts-"

"Are always on point," Eliza cut off her partner, "that's what you were going to say right?"

"Of course," Burr said amiably. 

Eliza's instinct led her out of the museum and down the road. 

"Where are we going?" Burr asked. 

 

"You'll see," Eliza replied in a sing song voice.

 

In all honestly, she wasn't quite sure where she was headed until she caught sight of the sewer grate only half a block away from the museum entrance. She lowered herself to her knees and peered into the darkness. 

"Here," Burr said, handing over his car keys, which had a small flashlight on the key ring. 

"Thank you," Eliza took the ring from him, "I promise not to drop them."

 

"If you do, you'll be climbing down to get them," Burr informed her. 

Eliza laughed, "Duly noted."

Leaning in close Eliza shined the light down, "Oh god this smells worse than when the twins got sprayed by a skunk in the park..."

"And then the smell transferred to you with the combination of tomato juice, I remember," Burr rolled his eyes, "You see anything?"

 

"Quite possibly," Eliza replied, "it would be easier if I could get further down."

"I am not dangling you down a sewer grate," Burr said instantly.

"Where is your sense of fun?" Eliza asked.

"At home in my other pants," Burr replied casually.

Eliza rolled her eyes fondly and continued to examine the murky depths of the sewer. 

"I can call the Captain and see if we can get the city to lift the grate for us," Burr offered. 

 

“Might be a good idea,” Eliza sighed.

Nearly an hour later, they received their reward in the form of an elk antler missing several small fragments. Although it had been slightly cleaned by the sewer water, there were some reddish stains that could likely be blood.

“I suppose we should test it to be sure,” Eliza said holding the evidence bag at arms length.

"Then let's get it to the lab," said Burr. 

"Solvents and swabbing and test tubes, oh my," Eliza chuckled. 

Even Burr couldn’t help but laugh at that.

 

\----------

Verity did not look pleased about being dragged into the police station again. On the other hand Eliza couldn't help but feel a little smug, because she was certain they could take her down for what she'd done.

"I already told you what I know," Verity said almost as soon as Eliza and Burr stepped into the room. 

"If only that was true," Eliza replied casually, "because there were a few key details that you seemed to have left out."

Eliza sat down across from Verity, clasping her hands in front of her on the table. 

"Did you talk to Oliver about his affair?" Verity asked when the silence between them had dragged on. 

"I'd like to talk about yours, actually," Eliza replied. 

Verity gave her a wide-eyed innocent look, "What?"

"Cut the crap, Ms. Dixon."

To punctuate Eliza's words, Burr started placing printouts on the table of the screenshotted text conversations. Verity dropped the act, her eyes flicking down to the printouts then back to Eliza's face. 

"Yeah that whole thing with Oliver fell through in five minutes," Eliza spoke up, "the next time you try to frame someone maybe give it some more thought."

Verity swallowed and looked away but didn't say anything. 

"You should have been honest with us from the beginning," Eliza told her, "How long were the two of you involved?"

"A little over a year," Verity confessed.

"And when did it end?"

"It didn't," Verity snapped, then she took a deep breath and continued more sedately, "I loved Meredith. We loved each other. She said she was going to leave Jerry," she said the name like a curse, "we were going to be together."

"What happened?" Eliza asked even though she already had a sinking suspicion.

Verity said nothing, so Eliza tried a different route. 

"Did you know that Meredith was pregnant?" she asked. 

The flinch that ran through Verity was answer enough. 

"Is that why you killed her?"

Verity’s shoulders began to shake and tears ran down her face, “Yes.”

Eliza and Burr exchanged a glance and waited for more details to emerge. 

"They'd been trying for so long," Verity said, her voice shaking slightly, "and Mer was sick of it, sick of staying with him just for the chance of having a kid. We were going to be together, find our own way."

"Then she got pregnant," Burr put in gently. 

Verity let out a bitter laugh, "Yeah. Good old Jerry finally succeeded."

"So why kill Meredith?" Eliza asked.

"We were going to be together," Verity reiterated, "She'd signed the divorce papers, all she had to do was get him to sign them and we'd be free."

"So what? You thought killing her would help that?" prompted Eliza. 

"I never meant to kill her," Verity insisted, "that was an accident. I just needed to get rid of the loose end, that part of him that still lingered."

Eliza felt nauseous. This woman had deliberately planned to kill Mrs. Taylor's unborn child. She didn't want to hear any more, the thought made her horribly sick. She was glad when Burr was the one to step in for her.

"That didn't work according to plan, did it?" he asked. 

"She stabbed herself in the chest," Verity said, her voice cold despite the tears that still flowed unceasingly down her cheeks, "She made me stab her in the chest and then she ran."

This information surprised Eliza, she slowly turned back towards Verity. 

"And you followed her?" Burr continued.

"Yes," confirmed Verity, "and that's when I saw her all wrapped up in his arms like they never had trouble, like they weren't going to separate, like they weren't only pretending to still love each other."

“Which is when you attacked Jerry,” Eliza added.

Verity simply nodded.

“Then I think we’re done here,” Eliza stepped forward.

"Verity Dixon, you are under arrest for the murders of Jerry and Meredith Taylor..."

Eliza left Burr to finish reading Verity her rights. She suddenly had an urge to hug her children very tightly and possibly never let go. 

 

\----------

Despite closing the case Eliza was still a little frazzled by the details of all of it, but not enough to forget that it was Alex's weekend with the kids. So before taking leave she traipsed over to his office to remind him of what her expectations were. He was on the phone when she got there, so Eliza leaned against the doorframe to wait. She let out a sigh and hoped that he would finish up soon.

 

"Alright," Alex said into the phone, "thanks again. Bye."

He let out a sigh as he placed the phone back in its cradle. He then turned his attention to her. 

"So," began Eliza, "this weekend, the kids..."

"Are all yours," Alex interrupted. 

Eliza blinked in surprise, "What?"

"Look," Alex sighed, "I know that this last case had been pretty tough, certain details in particular."

Eliza pursed her lips and wrung her hands, needless to say she was more than a little surprised by this turn of events. "Thanks... I guess."

“Just give Angie and Pip a hug from me,” Alex replied casually. 

“Will do,” Eliza nodded still a little surprised. 

As Alex returned to his computer, Eliza waited another moment in the doorway of his office before making her way to her car. She kept the music on low as she drive home, her brain completely elsewhere. She let out a deep sigh as she pulled up in front of the house and parked her car, more than willing to pass on Alex’s hug to the kids. Once the babysitter had been paid and left, Eliza decided to take it easy that night and gave in to the twins requests for pizza. She didn’t usually like to order out for dinner, but it had been a long couple weeks.

She even relented and let them watch Tangled and eat their pizza with the three of the curled up on the couch comfortably. She felt a desire to keep the kids close and neither of them protested. In fact, both of them seemed to be feeling her exhaustion sympathetically and they were both ready to go sleep earlier than usual. Eliza didn’t mind that in the slightest.

As Eliza was brushing her teeth she heard the patter of feet and turned to see Angie and Philip standing there.

 

“Mama we want to sleep with you,” Philip declared.

“Please,” added Angie.

It had been some time since the kids had slept in bed with her, as she and Alex had decided that they were a little too old, barring special circumstances. Eliza decided that this counted as a special circumstance.

“Okay,” she agreed, “get into pajamas and brush your teeth.”

The two of them dashed off and Eliza went about pulling back the covers and fluffing the pillows, she couldn’t help but smile. She had missed cuddling with the twins, and they were getting so big that this was unlikely to be happening for much longer. When the twins returned, they had each brought their usual sleeping companions. For Philip that was a t-rex that used to be a brighter blue than it currently was and for Angie it was a teddy bear that had once belonged to Peggy.

The two of them clambered up onto the bed as Eliza slid in with them leaving the light on from her end table for the moment while they curled up on each side of her. 

“Did you catch the bad guy, mama?” Angie asked sleepily.

“Yes I did, baby,” replied Eliza, pulling both of the closer.

“Good,” mumbled Angie as she slid into sleep.

“Yeah,” Eliza agreed, struggling to keep her own eyes open, “good.”

**Author's Note:**

> WE'RE BACK


End file.
